Sunday, April 1, 2012

Small Room, Small Budget Laundry Room Makeover

When we moved to our home more than 8 years ago, I was delighted to get a real laundry room that was more than a closet with bi-fold doors. Since we are on the verge of adding our 4th family member since that time, even that laundry room was getting really crowded and inefficient. The size of the room is about 6.6' x 5' with an extra 3.5' x 2' section at the doorway, so it is definitely not large. With the help of my husband we set to to work to make it into a more efficient and lovely space.

BEFORE

looking in- hooks on the right and left, window shade in need of attention, claustrophobic feeling from clothes hanging from both sides, beige

further in - mismatched set of machines (saved us more than $200 when we bought them, but I would really love a matching set at some point), drying rack stored on the side wall, too much stuff

yet more stuff

Improving the space:- painted the room using some leftover blue paint from the adjoining hallway mixed with a fresh quart of white, tape & quart of paint = $16.99 The color is an almost exact match to Valspar Air Kiss which is the color I had picked out before I decided to just use what we had mixed with white. What a happy coincidence!- removed the hooks on the left and all the wire shelving- cut off the vinyl shade to remove the torn part and sewed a new casing for the rigid stick at the bottom to slide through- added shelves using lumber, brackets and paint we already had from previous projects- added a shelf with rails and hooks, TJSIG hat rack from IKEA = $32.24- removed the blue curtain and added a shear patterned IKEA curtain from a set received for Christmas and hemmed the new curtain to the length we wanted- spray-painted the flat-backed metal bin white to go with the fresh white/blue scheme, this is used as a small trash bin- removed lots of stuff from the space and consolidated the contents of remaining bins- repurposed bins from around the house to contain new categories of stuff, such as baby wipes containers to store extra batteries, a heavyweight disposable pan to corral the laundry supplies used on a daily basis, a wood tote to contain the first aid & hair cutting kits, etc.- removed the door to allow easier access for the kids to get in and out to take their baskets to put away their clothing and motivate me to not let mountains of laundry collect- painted the mirror unit (previously dark wood) in the adjoining hallway white to match the trim, paint = $4.81- gave the whole room a good scrubbing, cleaned out the dryer vent, and put away all the laundry so I could snap the after shots

And AFTER

bright & fresh

I love the new space! It is so pleasant to do laundry now and because I really enjoy the room I'm motivated to stay on top of our laundry needs. Because of this makeover my laundry routine has improved and seems so much easier.